Corner wall shelf



March 29, 1949. J. A. CONTERIO CORNER WALL SHELF Filed Aug. 50; 1945 Patented Mar. 29, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CORNER WALL SHELF James A. Conterio, Chicago, Ill.

Application August 30, 1945, Serial No. 613,483

4 Claims. 1

The main objects of this invention are, to provide an improved shelf construction of the type for suspension in the corner of a room, to be used in the supporting of small or light-weight articles in the nature of knick-knacks, vases, and the like; to provide an improved shelf construction of this kind in which the wall-supporting parts are normally urged toward an angular relationship of reater than 90 whereby the shelf will be securely held in place despite severe vibrations to which the walls might be subjected or despite any change in the angular relationship of the walls due to the settling of the building; and to provide an improved shelf construction of this type which can be made of almost any lightweight material, of desired ornamental character, and which can support articles of considerable Weight.

A shelf constructed in accordance with this invention, embodying alternate forms of a spring hinge, is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. l is a perspective view of a shelf, employing the preferred form of spring hinge, showing the relative positions of the parts when the shelf is removed from a wall corner;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal cross-sectional View of the shelf taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1, but showing it in place in a wall corner;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-sectional view taken on the line 44 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken through the corner of the shelf and showing the preferred form of spring hinge a-rrangement; and

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 but showing a modified form of spring hinge.

A shelf constructed in accordance with this invention comprises, a ledge section 1 on which are formed a pair of supporting parts 8 and 9 having on their backs wall-engaging means I0 whose contact with the walls is made more secure by the pressure of a spring hinge l I.

The ledge section 1 is made up of a pair of sector-shaped members I2 and I3. These are arranged in overlapping relationship so that they may be relatively shifted on an axis 14 coincident with the vertex of the angle of each of the two members. These members are held in their assembled relationship by means of the spring II, as will more fully hereinafter appear, and a double-headed pin IS on the member 12 extend ing through a slot IS in the member l3.

The supporting parts 8 and 9 are shown integral with the sector-shaped members l2 and 13, being disposed at right angles thereto along the opposite edges thereof. At their forward ends the parts 8 and 9 may be extended, as shown, to form grips l1 and I8 which facilitate the handling of the shelf when it is being placed in or moved from a wall corner. These supporting parts and ledge members may be made as ornamental as taste may dictate.

The wall-engaging means I0 is herein shown in the form of tacks. These extend through plates 19 which, in the embodiment herein shown, are riveted at 20 to the respective supporting parts 8 and 9. If preferred, these plates may be spotwelded to the supporting parts. The number of rows of these tacks and the number of tacks in a row will be influenced somewhat by the use to which the corner shelf is to be put.

The preferred embodiment of spring H is formed with an arcuate part 2| and a pair of angularly-arranged arms 22 and 23. The arcuate part 2| is inserted through slots 24 in the adjacent ends of the supporting parts 8 and 9, which brings the spring arms 22 and 23 into pressing contact with the inner faces of the parts 8 and 9 respectively. Thus, the spring serves as a hinge for the relative shifting of the ledge members l2 and I3 and their integral supporting parts 8 and 9 about an axis [4.

In the modification shown in Fig. 6, the spring H is without the loop 2| formed in the spring ll of the preferred modification. The arms 22 and 23 are anchored between the plates l9 and the respective supporting parts 8 and 9. The effect is the same as with the preferred embodiment.

In either modification, when the spring I l is completely unfiexed, arms 22 and 23 are disposed at an angle greater than Thus, when either type of the spring II is placed in position with regard to the supporting parts 8 and 9, the spring tends to shift the supporting parts 8 and 9 toward an angle of greater than 90. Therefore, after the shelf has been placed in position and the tacks have been driven into the wall surface, the spring keeps the supporting parts 8 and 9 in firm contact with the walls. Accordingly, if a building should be subjected to any violent vibrations or if the building should settle and increase the angularity of the walls at the corner, there is small likelihood of the shelf becoming loose, because the spring keeps the arms pressed against the wall surfaces.

When it is desired to place in a wall corner a shelf, embodying this invention, the grips I! 3 permit the members of the ledge section 1 to be retracted suificiently to place the shelfv in proper position in the wall corner. cause the tacks I to penetrate the wall.

When it is desired to remove a shelf of this kind from a wall corner, it is only necessary to pull the arms I1 and I8 toward each other by pressure on the grips 11.

Other variations and modifications in the details of structure and arrangement of the parts may be resorted to within the spirit and coverage of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A wall shelf of the class described comprising, a ledge section, a pair of supporting parts disposed along the angular edges of said ledge section, wall-engaging means on said supporting parts, and a spring anchored to said supporting parts to form a hinge connection therefor and normally urging said parts toward an angular relationship of greater than 90 soas to retain said wall-engaging parts in contact with the supporting wall.

2. A wall shelf of the class described comprising, a ledge section, a pair of supporting parts disposed along the angular edges of said ledge section, wall-engaging means on said supporting parts, and a leaf spring having an arcuate portion looped through the adjacent ends of said supporting parts and having oppositely-disposed arms engaging the inner faces of said supporting parts and normally urging them toward an angular relationship of greater than 90 so as to retain said wall-engaging parts in contact with the supporting wall.

3. A corner shelf of the class described comprising, a pair of relatively-shiftable, sectorshaped members constituting a ledge section, a vertical supporting part fixed along one edge of each. of said sector-shaped members, wall-engaging means on each of said supporting parts, and

The spring ll will wall-engaging parts in contact with the respective supporting walls.

4. A corner shelf of the class described comprising, a pair of sector-shaped members constituting a ledge section, one of said sector-shaped members being of approximately angle and the other sector member being slidably supported on said first-mentioned sector member about an axis coincident with the vertex of the angle of both of said sector-shaped members, a vertical supporting part integral with each of said sectorshaped members along one edge thereof, wallengaging means mounted on the back of each of said supporting parts, and a leaf spring having the oppositely-disposed arms thereof respectively connected to said supporting parts and hingedly connecting them together and normally urging said parts toward an angular relationship of greater than 90 so as to retain said Wall-engaging parts in contact with the respective supporting walls.

- JAMES A. CONTERIO.

REFERENCES errnn The following references are of record in the file of patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Wilkin July 25, 1933 

